What Constitutes Good Poker? Is it Discipline or Innate Talent?
- Filed under: Poker
- Date: Feb 13,2010
Defining talent is an amorphous undertaking. A person’s potentiality quotient is shown by the goal he is aiming for and how close he comes to reaching it. Relying on pure talent to accomplish a goal may work if the goal requires very low standards or is quite simplistic. What separates the good player from the bad in any arena is the intestinal fortitude and tenacity to thoroughly educate themselves on the subject at hand. Almost everyone has potential and may even know their talents, but they do not have the discipline to pursue them.
Top players take a hard look at their abilities and do not run from the strenuous and unfamiliar. They are their own best critics and care about becoming ever better at whatever it is they do. The big winners. as well as everyone else that plays the game. have a sense of what talented play is relative to current poker tradition. What separates them is that they reach beyond whatever talent they have to impose upon themselves a rigorous pattern of discipline.
Successful players practice, practice, practice and learn abundantly from it. This experience and self-education translates into efficient methods of handling every given situation.
Talent without discipline is depending on luck. This is the mark of the amateur. He will play for the adrenaline rush and the thrill of that sure jackpot that’s just around the corner. Talent with discipline aims at reducing chance to its minimum. The expert player has no interest in his adrenaline, he has a profound interest in emptying his opponent’s wallet, no matter how good or bad that opponent is. To the pro, the game is a battle pitched against chance and his opponent’s expertise.
Start with self-searching and analyze carefully what you discover. If you allow yourself to be distraught with the weak points you discover, then deny them for self-preservation, you will not learn from them nor will you overcome them. It is destructive to cling to activities that you have no talent for and to avoid reaching out to find something different that you just might excel in. Some indulge in the fantasy that someday just by hanging around they will gain talent in the activities they are not good at but refuse to admit the truth These guys are a professional poker player’s dream opponents
The first thing a professional poker player does is to decide which poker to play. Limit poker does not engage the same faculties as non-limit poker. It requires patience and caution to play limit poker successfully, since it takes time, requires gradual building up of advantages and information. To be successful at non-limit poker it takes the opposite kind of discipline: a seemingly recklessly maintained aggression which is at the same time well controlled and calculated.
Cockiness is a common flaw among amateurs allowing them to play without restraint. The concentration is on the knowledge that they are “good” players and do not ever run into a losing situation where they should fold up their tent. On the other hand if you are the kind of player who is not impressed with yourself, but your goal is to win lots of hands consistently, you know well when to beat a hasty retreat and cut your losses.
It happens to everybody; sometimes the pressure may be too much to handle, but the good player will be able to recognize this and will always prevent the situation from becoming worse by drawing the right limit.
The author is a successful limit cash game player. He plays poker online and receives Power Rakeback and Victory Poker Rakeback.
categories: poker,card games,games,gambling,fun,entertainment,recreation,sports,leasure,hobby,hobbies,casino,money
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